"La Vie En Rose"

I watched the movie "La Vie En Rose". It is a French movie about a French singer, Edith Piaf. "La Vie En Rose" is English title and its original title is "La Môme".I didn't know anything about Edith Piaf until I decided to watch this movie. According to wekipedia, Edith is one of the greatest singers in France. She was born in 1915 and died at age of 47. She died of lever cancer.
The movie is about her whole life from birth to death. I thought her life was absolutely unbelievable. So many drama happened in her life. Very early in the movie, she was abandoned by her own mother and raised by prostitutes until she was about 4. And then her father is back from war and comes to pick her up. She didn't want to leave the prostitutes but her father took her away. She started to spend her life with the circus her father belongs to. But her father had a quarrel with other circus members and left the circus with Edith. He still kept performing on the street and Edith sang to helped her father. Audience liked her song and that's when she started to sing. She grew up and became a professinal singer, but she wasn't happry all the time. She once fell in love with a married guy and lost him by airplane accident. She was drug addict and on rehabilitation so many times.

I thought she was a very interesting person. And the performance of the actress was amazing. It was very powerful and touching. Her name is Marion Contillard. She’s a French actress. She is actually young. She looks like she's in her 20s but she looked very old in the movie. I thought the movie was really good. I recommend other people watch this too.

［305 words］

Exciting Yatai Night

On Friday, I was bored at home watching TV after school. My friend, Akihiro called me and said "Let's go to Fukuoka to drink!" I asked "Why don't we just drink at some izakaya in Kumamoto?" He said "I wanna drink at a yatai!" I loved the idea so I decided to go all of a sudden to Fukuoka that night.
Yatai is a kind of booths mainly serve beers and other alcohols and some food like Japanese oden or ramen. It's usually a tiny space so you can get very close to other customers. So you can make friends with others in yatais very easily. There is no yatais in Kumamoto but in Fukuoka, there are many. I had been to yatai once so I knew what it was like, and I love drinking at yatai.
He came to pick me up at around 7 o'clock and we headed to Fukuoka on the freeway. It took about 1 and a half hour to get there. We arrived in Hakata and saw many yatais on the street. We parked the car near the area that yatais gathered. When I got off the car, I felt it was a bit cold. When we started to walk, I felt even colder. As we were walking, we were selecting which yatai we were getting in. And we decided to get into one to have gyoza. We ordered 2 beers and 1 plate of gyoza as sson as we got inside. It was delicious, perfect match with beer. And I loved the atmosphere in the yatai. We spent like an hour in the yatai and moved to another one to eat oden. This time we ordered shochu. It was also delicious and perfect match with shochu. It was cold outside, but it was always warm inside yatais.
After we ate and drank enough, we went to karaoke and slept there. We came back to Kumamoto Sunday afternoon. It was very exciting Friday night.

［303 words］

2-06 Sally's Phone

Sally is a young woman who lives with her family. One morning, she was woken up by her boyfriend’s phone call. It was only six. Her boyfriend’s name is Andrew and he said her to come to the dinner with his new job that night. He also told her to wear a blue skirt she had and hung up. Sally didn’t want to wear the blue skirt but Andrew didn’t listen to her. He always doesn’t listen to Sally.
That day, at work, she talked about it to her coworkers. They thought it was absurd. They told Sally to buy a new skirt whatever color she likes. At lunch break, they went to shopping together and Sally bought a red skirt. On the way back to office, she bought called at a coffee shop and bought a coffee. When she bought a coffee, she bumped into a guy. He was nice. He picked up her bag and apologized.
Later that day, her phone rang. She picked up and said “Hello” and they said “Is this Paul?” Sally said “No” and hung up. Now she has Paul’s phone and Paul has Sally’s phone. They mistakenly picked up the wrong ones when they bumped into each others. They called and decided to meet up and return their phones to each other.
Paul thought Sally was beautiful and Sally thought Paul was nice. After they exchanged their phones, they went to have drinks. Sally didn’t want to meet Andrew anymore so she didn’t go to the dinner. It was Paul’s sister’s birthday that day so they went to the party together.

I like the way Sally ditched Andrew. It was immediate and no hesitation or sorriness at all. At the beginning of the story, she was concerned about her relationship because Andrew always tells her to do whatever he likes her to. He didn’t care Sally’s feeling at all. She wasn’t happy. So I thought it was very good for her to meet Paul. Paul is very nice and respects her feelings and taste.

［341 words］

"My favorite places"

I like traveling very much. I like visiting somewhere I’ve never been to before. And I have been to many places inside and outside Japan. Among those places, I’m going to introduce the three of my favorite places. Two of them are in Japan, Kamakura and Okinawa, and the other is in US which is San Antonio, Texas.

I visited Kamakura for the first time this summer. My sister just moved to Kamakura from Yokohama so she invited me to her new house during the summer vacation. Both Kamakura and Yokohama are in Kanagawa prefecture which is close to Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Kamakura is a very old city with a long history and you can see that as you walk around the city of Kamakura. It has many temples and shrines all over so I went to see some of them. It also has small modern cafes, shops and bars stands along the streets. It has a mixture of history and modern culture in the city and I love the unique atmosphere. It’s quiet, relaxing, quaint and fashionable. Kamakura is the city which contains good elements of both the old tradition and the new fashion at the same time.

Okiniwa is another favorite place to visit. I went there for the first time when I was in junior high as a school trip. But it was November and it had already been getting colder. And the
weather wasn't really good the whole time I was in Okinawa so I couldn't experience the best of Okinawa that time. I really found how amazing Okinawa was last summer. I went there with my friends and stayed for a few days in summer vacation. The weather was fantastic everyday during I was in Okinawa. The oceasn was incredibly beautiful. I spent all day hanging out at the beach so I got tanned no like before. The food is another reason why I like Okinawa. Soki-soba is Okinawan noodles and it's really good and my favorite. Once you arrived in Okinawa, you would feel like you're in somewhere outside Japan. You will feel very happy and welcomed by the island. You can escape from life in reality and forget your stress. Okinawa is such an attractive place.

San Antonio is the third favorite place to introduce. When I was 16 and 17, I was an exchange student in San Antonio, Texas. I went to school called St. Anthony Catholic High School for one year. I have so many memories about San Antonio. In San Antonio, you will hear many Spanish everywhere in the city as well as English. San Antonio faces the border between US and Mexico, so there are many Mexican people live in San Antonio. They have Spanish radio station, Spanish TV program, and delicious Mexican food. At my school, at least 50 % of the students were Mexican or Mexican American. They sometimes talk to each other in Spanish. The school had Spanish class and many students were taking it. I used to hangout with friends from the dormitory where I stayed the whole time during I was in San Antonio. We often went to movies and a shopping mall together in the weekend, and played pool and watched TV at the dorm. San Antonio has a tourist attraction called “River Walk” in its downtown. It’s an artificial small river and has many restaurants and bars and souvenir shops along the river. It’s a very beautiful place with colorful booths, music from bars and many people from all over the world.

I have introduced my three favorite places. First, Kamakura, I like its atmosphere. Second, Okinawa, I like it because it makes me feel as if I’m in a totally different world. And lastly, San Antonio, I have many special memories of spending my 16 and 17 of life there. They’re all my favorite places. I would like to visit there once again or even more. I would also like to visit more places and find more to be my favorites.

［641 words］

Friend TST04

My best friend Ayumi is in Canada now. She saved money all by herself and went to Vancouver to study English. She left Kumamoto in May and she will come back in March. Ayumi and I met at KGU when we were in the first grade. At that time Ayumi was not coming to school very much. She came to school like once a week because she was very busy with the part time job. But she still wanted to study and become an English teacher at a kindergarten. She decided to go Canada because her private English teacher was a Canadian. She said he was very nice and taught her a lot about Canada so she got interested in going to Canada. Now I chat with her sometimes and she seems really enjoying her life in Canada. I’m looking forward to meeting her again.

[145 words]

2-05 "Julia Roberts"

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is mainly about Julia’s career as an actress. In the beginning, it says a little bit of her childhood too. I like movies so I like reading about actors and actresses.

I have seen many movies which Julia Roberts is in. My favorite is “Erin Brockovitch”. This movie is based on the true story. The movies based on true stories can often be boring but this one is absolutely not. She acts one of the coolest women in it.

I knew that she has been in many great movies but didn’t know that she has also been in some bad movies which didn’t make much money. Her career wasn’t always good. She once stopped movies for a while. Maybe she was in a slump.

She has dated with many many guys before. The most of them are actors. It is no wonder because she’s beautiful but I was a bit surprised as reading the history. Now she’s married to some guy and has twin kids.

[172 words]

Kumamoto-Koshi-Kikuchi

Yesterday, me and the two of my friends went to Country Park in Koshi. We met at noon and headed to Koshi by car. On the way we bought lunch and snacks and drinks. It took over an hour to get there, even though it usually takes only about a quarter an hour, because we were lost our way. We asked the way to Country Park at a convenience store and could finally got there. After we arrived, we ate first. The weather was so fine as we din't see any clouds in the sky so it was great to be outside and eat. After we ate, we spent time playing badminton, seeing flowers and even just laying down on the ground until 5 o'clock. We felt very tired and sweaty after playing outside all day like as if we turned back kids so we decided to go to onsen in Kikuchi. It was about 1 hour drive from there. We went to Sasanoya, the hotel with onsens. It had one big bath and one outside(roten buro). I felt very refreshing.
We came back to Kumamoto around 9. It was a very fun and satisfying Sunday.

[196 words]

2-04 "New York Cafe"

When I saw the cover of this book, I though this was about NewYork. I like New York so I decided to read this book. Actually, this book was about computers. It was kind of scary and surprising at the ending.

It's 2030 and you can do anything with computers. S.Fuller takes 5 million dollars with the computer. Next day, at Fuller's, Mr. Fuller finds lots of money in their account. Mr. Fuller is confused, but his son, Sam says to Mr.Fuller to be happy about it. Fuller family is consisted of Mr.Fuller, Mrs.Fuller, Sam, and Sam's little sister Sheila.

I thought S.Fuller was Sam. Everybody would think it is Sam, but actually it is Sheila, his little sister. She 's very good at computers and took money from the bank. The fact turns out in very end of the story. It was so unpredictable and surprising.

[147 words]

Proto-Portfolio 2-01

Proto-Portfolio 2-01: Reviews, Posts and Words

Months	08	09	10	11	12	01	Totals	fn	Indices
Book reviews		00	03
Blog posts		05	13
Words
Sub-totals								---

Appetite TST 10/17

I love eating so I have a lot of appetites. I like 2 friends I often go eat something with in particular. I like going to eat yakiniku with them usually all-you-can-eat. They eat as much as I eat which usually people don’t so it is fun to eat with them. Last time I went to Aso with them, we ate a lot. We ate BBQ chicken, hotdog, ice cream, on the way.
Besides yakiniku, I like eating 100 yen sushi, pizza, ramen, and ice cream. In fall, we have many good foods such as sanma, fruits, and matsutake. I don’t really like fruits very much but I like Japanese pear. We will have many good pears in fall so I’m looking forward to it. I also like chestnuts.

[129 words]

My Monday

I had a very busy day yesterday so that I couldn't add a text to my blog before the date changed. On Mondays I take 4 classes which is the most in a week. The first one started at 10:40 and I consecutively have three more classes after that. I have German, Current Event, Japanese Writing and the most interesting is Nihonjijo Tokko which is tha last of the day. It is basically for foreign students but is still open to some Japanese weirdos like me. English was spoken the whole time in the class so being in the class makes me feel like I'm studying abroad. I took this class because I was curious what kind of things foreign students study at my university and how our culture is introduced to them. Yesterday we had Tomei sensei present Japanese martial arts. I thought I would know everything he would say or show in the class but there were actually many many things I didn't know so it was very interesting.
After school, I had to go work. I usually have dayoff on Mondays because I have the most class on Mondays but yesterday, because they didn't have enough people, they asked to me come and help. I didn't say no because I want to make as much money as posssible. I went straoght to work from university and I worked for 6:30 to 9:00.
I was exsausted when I got home so I had dinner and took shower and went to bed quickly.

[254 words]

The web is very useful these days

I found a big spider's web right outside of the window this morning.
It was a huge web and a huge spider on the middle of it.
I was surprised and didn't know what to do so left it alone.
Since I was a child I knew spiders are harmful or scary because my parents and grand parents taught me that spiders are genius of houses.
I usually go smash bugs annoyingly flying or crawling around me but spiders.

Tonight, I left my windowns open for hours and realized there were no any bugs in my room.
Usually, when I have my windowns open for a while there are at least a few little annoying bugs flying around in my room but tonight there is none.
I guess the web is catching all the bugs trying get into my room.
How innovative! She's a keeper.

[145 words]

2-03 "Marley"

This book is about a couple and their dog named Marley.

Jon and Jenny had been married for a few years and were considering about having a child.

But Jenny was unsure if she could grow a child because she coudln't even graw the plant which Jon had given her as a present. She watered the plant too much and killed it. She wasn't confident that she won't kill a baby too so they decided to strat with a dog.

The dog was named Marley because they both liked Bob Marley.

Marley is a Labrodor retriever, male, very perky.

I think this book is very funny even thought it's very long and I haven't even finished it.

I have never read any English book this long but it's not as hard as I thought it would be.

I think it's because the contents is very interesting and easy to understand.

There are many vocabularies i don't know in the book so I can learn a lot by reading this.

I read some pages as I mark the vocabs I don't know and stop and look up my dictionary and find out their meanings and read the same pages once again.

Marley is very cute and adorable.

As I read the book, I can picture this dog whimper, run, sleep, bark. It very fun to read this book.

[227 words]

Surprise!

Yesterday afternoon, as I was watching TV at home, my phone rang in my pocket. Even though I always know who's calling before I answer the phone, this time, it didn't sign who's calling on the screen. I was a little scared and suspicious. Doubting it was a kind of swindling call, I picked up.

It was girl's voice in lots of excitement I heard as soon as I said "Moshi moshi?".
And the yelling sounded familiar and it was calliing my name.
The next moment, I realized it was my friend who left for Canada a few months ago.
It was so sudden and unexpected. I got excited and was very happy that she called me.
She sounded super fine as usual and seemed to be enjoying her life in Canada.
I can't wait next time she calls me.

[140 words]

2-02 "Girl on a Mototrcycle"

Kenny was traveling across the US. On the way, he met a girl named Mel. She looked like a bank robber Kenny had seen on TV. He was very suspicious. However, it turned out that she wasn't the robber in the end. She was a stunt girl and she had been on TV several times. That's why Kenny thought she looked familiar.

It was a bit exciting and mysterious story. Everything comes clear in the end and you don't know how the story goes until then. I thought the woman was the bank robber but she wasn't. It was a bit surprising. The real suspect was a man who wore a blond wig and disguise himself as a woman. He was wearing a helmet so nobody could know either it was really a woman.

I found it also kind of funny because Kenny sneaked into Mel's room to find out if she was really a bank robber. And no one blamed for that action even after they found out that Mel was innoncent. I think it's a trespass.

[178 words]

School Festival 2 TST3 10/10

I think there will be many people in the university when the school festival. There are going to be a lot of foods and maybe games.

When I was in high school, I was chosen to be a representative of the class to give a speech for the school festival. My speech was about my experience in US where I was an exchange student for 1 year. It was really challenge to me because I had to give a speech both in Japanese and English on the stage in front of a thousand of students and teachers.

Our class made curry and rice and served it to people from outside school; families, neighbors, friends from other school. It was very fun.

[121 words]

Mega Essay

We examine Kumamoto’s famous things. On examination, we find what we don’t know it unexpectedly without being concerned with the hometown.

Ｋｕｍａｍｏｔｏ’ｓ　Ｆｏｏｄ

One of the famous foods in Kumamoto is “Karasi Renkon” It is very famous in Japan. People in Kumamoto like it very much and often eat it　there is a famous shop in my town. Its name is Takasimaya in Sinmachi near the Center Office. Many customers bay it in the shop every day. “Let’s eat it in lunch together!”

Hitomoji Guruguru is local cooking of Kumamoto. First of all, I introduce a recipe. At first, you boil a scallion and dip it into the iced water. You coil up the part of the leaf centering on a root. You serve it afterward in a plate, and it is the completion in this. You rank miso and vinegar sauce, and it is general how to eat. It looks like nuta. It is Japanese tradition food. Kumamoto citizen call a scallion Hitomoji. It is said that this name arrived because coil up.

There is a variety of ways of eating horse meat but the most common way is sashimi style which is basashi. There are about 10 kinds of basashi from different part of horse’s body. My favorite is tategami which is a neck part. It’s all white and looks like a fat but is mostly consisted of collagen. It is hard to describe but it has a different texture and taste so if you haven’t had it before, please try. It’s available at many izakayas in Kumamoto. It is very good.

http://www.umasakura.com/

Ｋｕｍａｍｏｔｏ’ｓ　Ｄｒｉｎｋ
The water which we drink is “underground water” this is rare in Japan. Many people in Japan have to buy water. But many people in Kumamoto don’t have to buy it. The water in Kumamoto is very delicious, and healthy. It is indispensable for us to drink water for our daily lives. The water of Kumamoto comes from Aso And we drink often drink.

The mandarin orange (unsyu mikan) is one of the special products of Kumamoto. It is made in juice. It is called juicy in Kumamoto. JA Kumamoto fruit produces them. It is offered in lunch in the elementary and junior high school in Kumamoto.In addition, There is 100% Hinokuni Mikan juice as a famous commodity.

People in Kumamoto love shochu more than any other alcohol. Especially the one made from rice because it is local. There are other kinds of shochu made from sweet potato or wheat, and they’re also popular here. However, compared to them, rice shochu is sweeter and easier to drink.

Kumamoto's Tousit Attraction
One of the famous places in Kumamoto is “Kumamoto Castle” We call it one of the famous castles in Japan the beautiful views outside is very famous. Not only many people in Japan but also a lot of people in foreign countries visit there. As for it, a repair is performed now. Because it is two hundreds years old. It is very old. We have to preserve it for future gererations!
Kurokawa hot spring is a hot spring in the Aso-gun, Kumamoto Minami Ouni town. Nature of the water of a hot spring is a sulfur spring, it is 80 degrees from the stratum The source of 98 degrees springs out.

Kurokawa Hot Spring started to gine an entrance hand print to the visitors. By this, the Kurokawa hot spring became famous. It is an annual event every year on Kurokawa hot spring Thanksgiving Day. An employee disguise Japanese daimyo, princess. They acted daimyo procession.

Mt.Aso is a great mountain and Kumamoto people are proud of it. It is magnificent nature and the world biggest caldera. Mt.Aso is an active volcano so sometimes you can’t get close to the crater. Many caws are kept throughout the mountain. It’s a very beautiful place.

http://www.aso.ne.jp/~aso/

http://www.kurokawaonsen.or.jp/

Kumamoto's Big Faces

One of the popular entertainer’s groups is “CREAM STREW” They consist of two people. They are from Kumamoto graduated from “Seiseiko high school” The school is very famous and popular in Kumamoto. It is the oldest high school in Kumamoto. People in Kumamoto are very proud of “CREAM STREW” Also. Their university is Waseda. So they are very clever. Moreever they are funny. So I like them!

http://www.ntv.co.jp/tarirari/

Isao Yukisad is born in Kumamoto for 1968 years. He is a famous movie director in Japan. His best work is 『GO』, 『Jam films』. He made clean sweep of prizes for each movie of 2001 including the Japanese Academy Award best Directing Award. He attracts attention as director young person on behalf of today's movie world from the various quarters

Kiyoko Suizenji is one of the greatest singers in Japan and she’s from Kuamototo. She was named after Suizenji, Kumamoto where is her hometown. She was born in 1945 and she has been called Cheeta which means “little Tamiko” (Tamiko is her real name). She has several hit numbers and they’re known by many generations. She also appears in TV commercials, radio, and talk show.

http://www.chita365.net/

We have introduced Kumamoto’s food, drink, and famous people. We have local foods which are called hitomoji-guruguru and karashi renkon. We also favor to eat horse meet and drink shochu. The castle, Mt. Aso and Kurokawa are very famous tourist attractions in Japan. Many people visit there from outside Kumamoto. There are comedians, a singer and a movie director who sprang from Kumamoto. They are in big success. There are things we already knew and things we didn’t know. We leaned many another things about Kumamoto.

［902 words］

Sketching outside

I had a plan to go to Aso with my friends today but ended up going to the athletic park in Kumamoto due to the bad weather. We were trying to do sketch the view of Aso. We bought papers and colors at 100 yen shop on the way and were heading to Aso. We were very excited. We bought lunch boxes to eat as we sketch outside at a convenience store. But closer we get to Aso, the weather got worse and worse. It wasn't exciting at all. Finally we gave up Aso and came back to Kumamoto city. We looked for somewhere we can sketch outside and found the park. But the weather still wasn't that good. We decided to sketch each other's face instead of the rainy view. We laughed at each other's and it was very fun.

[141 words]

Trainspotting

A few days ago I had an assignment which is to watch the movie "Trainspotting" for Mr.Tomei's class. When I first heard about that assignment, I was not pleased because I had seen the movie long tome ago and remembered that I didn't like it very much.
The movie is about a guy who's a heroin addict trying to get over it. There are some violent and disgusting scenes in the movie so I didn't like it very much. But this time, I loved it. There are some violent and disgusting scenes but they didn't bother me that much and I kinda found it funny. And I liked all the music played in the movie. I may buy the soundtrack on the payday.

[123 words]

2-01 "The Lost World"

This book is a young reporter named Malone. He looked for a dangerous adventure to write about and met the zoologist named Chanllenger. Prof. Challenger has an evidence that there are dinosaurs on the earth. Nobody believed him but Malone was interested. Malone went to Amazon to investigate. There were pterodactyls there.

Before I read this book, I thought it was about the one which was made into a movie but it wasn't. I learned some names of dinosaurs such as triceratops, stegosaurus, pterodactyl, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. I know what they are called in Japanese but they are very different in English. I don't even know hoe to pronounce them but it is good to know the spellings.

［118 words］

Group Essay Process

Today, me and my group member gathered at the 14 go kan where there are many computers in to fisnish our outlines for the group essay. We decided to write about Kumamoto's food, drink, tour spot, and some famouse people. Especially I like the idea of writing about the famouse people from Kumamoto. I think it's going to be unique and interesting. What I'm going to write about are Karasi renkon which is mastrad stuffed lotus, Kumamoto's sake, Mt. Aso and Kiyoko Suizenji. I'm excited to see what the essay will be like.

[102 words]

School Festival TST2 10/3

I’m in the forth year of this university and but I have never been to its school festival. Since I haven’t belonged to any circles or clubs, I don’t have any task to do for the festival. So those days for school festival for the most students here will be holidays for me.

Last year, taking advantage of the holidays, I went to Nagasaki by ferry. I ate a lot on the trip and I went to

［77 words］

"The Devil Wears Parada"

Today I went to rent a DVD and enjoyed watching movie. What I watched today was "The Devil Wears Prada". I had actually seen it once at the theater but I really like this movie so wanted to watch it again. The movie is starring Meryl Streep who is very famous and talented actress. She has the record of the most nominated for the oscar. And she was nominated for one for the performance in this movie as well.Nevertheless to say, she's really good.

She plays the severe cold hearted Miranda, boss of Andy played by Anne Hathaway. She's really scary and cool in the movie. I like this character very much. Miranda is the chief of a fashion magazine so she wears a lot of fashionable clothes. I also like the leading character too. She is not into fashion at all at first, but after she began to work for Miranda, she learns fashion and her clothes gradually become more fashionable and sophisticated.

The movie is set in NYC and that's also why I like this movie.

[178 words]

Haircut

I woke up around 11 today and as I was having breakfast, I remembered that I had received "The Birthday Premium Card" from Toni&Guy Kumamoto that gives me 4o% off the charge for a haircut and it expires tomorrow. I made a phonecall and a reservation immediately. I was just thinking about haircut these days so I shouldn't miss this chance to use this useful card.

[66 words]